Contact Tiffany

"Mainiacs away from Maine are truly displaced persons, only half alive, only half aware of their immediate surroundings. Their inner attention is always preoccupied and pre-empted by the tiny pinpoint on the face of the globe called Down East. They try to live not in such a manner that they will eventually be welcomed into Paradise, but only so that someday they can go home to Maine."
-- Louise Dickinson Rich

Aran sweaters and pubs

It has been a long-held dream of mine to go to Ireland. This dream has been moved to the forefront of my mind after watching a marathon of Ireland-oriented programs on the Travel Channel yesterday. In honor of “Driving Pagans Out of Ireland Day”, as Jen so eloquently puts it.

So I got on line and started looking around, and figured that IF the US dollar and Euro are more or less equal (which they SO are not right now), we (Calvin and I) could have a pretty grand vacation for $6k. That’s flying to Dublin, renting a car, staying for three nights in Dublin, driving down to Cork and spending three nights there, driving up to Galway and spending three nights there, then driving back over to Dublin for a final night before flying back home. Plus food and spending money. Ten nights/eleven days of Irish bliss, rolling misty hills, lilting accents, Aran sweaters (I WILL OWN ONE, SOME DAY), and pubs. It sounds like heaven to me.

I chose those three cities because of their locations (one on the East side of the island, one on the South side, and one on the West side), so we could use them as a “base” and drive around visiting the surrounding areas. Of course, if any of you dear readers have ever been to Ireland and have recommendations for things not to be missed, I’m all ears. This vacation isn’t going to happen this year or probably even next, but hopefully within the next four or five years we’ll see ourselves on our way.

Related

My husband is of Irish descent (amongst other things, but he always likes to claim it around St. Pat’s Day) and if we ever go anywhere abroad it will be there. I’m sure you guys will make it first, and when it happens, your writing and pictures will be like gifts!!!

The Aran Islands on the west Coast are beautiful and romantic. I have never seen them but a neighbor of mine went and said it was the most fantastic part of her trip. I saw the pictures and it is almost surreal, like a fairyland.

Amy – Okay, so I didn’t want to make it obvious that the only reason we wanted to go to Ireland was for the Guinness brewery. BUT! You found me out. (I kid! There’s also the leprechauns!)

Kim – Calvin’s family is from Ireland too – he says they have a lake or some such thing named after them. I’m Scottish and French, and plan to visit both places some day. But Ireland first! Maybe a month-long European Tour? For, like, eleventy bazillion dollars USD?

LauraH – As soon as I posted this entry I thought to myself that I should have included in it the intent of visiting the Aran islands. Have you seen pics? Gorgeous!!!